University of Iowa · PhysiologyAhern CardiacLab
Christopher A Ahern · Iowa City, Iowa
Research Focus
Dr. Christopher A Ahern's lab studies how voltage-gated ion channels impact heart function and disease. They use innovative chemical and genetic tools to investigate how these channels operate at the molecular level, particularly in relation to arrhythmias and sodium channelopathies. Their research aims to improve understanding of cardiovascular diseases and develop new therapeutic strategies.
ion channelscardiac physiologysodium channelsarrhythmiaschemical geneticsvoltage-gatingphosphorylationprotein structuredrug interactionsstructural biology
Research Aims
4AIM 01Investigate the mechanisms of voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels in cardiac cells.
AIM 02Develop chemical-genetic models to study ion channel dynamics in live cells.
AIM 03Identify the structural and electrophysiological changes in ion channels during arrhythmias.
AIM 04Explore drug interactions with voltage-gated ion channels for therapeutic applications.
Skills the Lab Values
CRISPR gene editinglight-controlled phosphorylationcell culture techniqueshigh-resolution protein structure determinationelectrophysiologyin vivo experimentationmolecular cloningsite-specific mutagenesisimmunoblottingdata analysis using Python
Output against the department
Publications200top 33% of dept.93rd of 286
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations4.7kbottom 40% of dept.172nd of 286
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.